FGATHERED at the Ely City Hall to celebrate federal funding for the Ely water line project were Ely Police Chief Chad Houde, Ely Utilities Commissioner Mauro Caruso, EUC Commissioner Larry Polyner, U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber, Ely Mayor Heidi Omerza, EUC Commissioner Rob Wilmunen, EUC Commissioner Tony Colarich, city council member Angela Campbell, city council member Adam Bisbee and City of Ely Clerk Harold Langowski. Photo by Nick Wognum.
or U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber, last week’s trip to Ely served as a victory lap of sorts.
His stop at City Hall came only four days after President Trump signed Stauber’s legislation that reversed a 20-year ban on copper-nickel mining exploration in the region, and just months after the Republican helped to secure funding for the city of Ely’s water main project.
Stauber celebrated both developments while meeting with mayor Heidi Omerza, clerk-treasurer Harold Langowski, and other local officials on May 1.
The visit with city leaders focused largely on the water main project, which is critical to both fire protection and the city’s drinking water supply.
After the meeting and after posing for photos with Omerza and others, Stauber addressed the mining legislation, which resurrected the Twin Metals Minnesota project.
“This legislation is durable,” said Stauber. “President Trump signed it. No future Democrat president can ever take that ability to mine. It’s a big first step in moving forward. It doesn’t greenlight any project. There was a lot of misinformation in the (U.S.) Senate even leading up to the vote. On the Senate floor they were talking about mining in the Boundary Waters.”
After earlier clearing the House, the Stauber legislation passed the Senate on a slim 50-49 vote.
“When it passed I was grateful,” said Stauber. “It’s a legacy piece of legislation for me. I’m proud of it, I’ve been pushing it since eight years ago.”
Stauber contends the legislation and the copper-nickel mining initiatives proposed for the region are vital on several fronts.
“It will allow us to mine these minerals with the best labor standards in the world,” he said. “We can not rely on China any longer. We’re going to have a lot of mining jobs here and I’m excited about it.”
Stauber said the legislation will also help other initiatives in the region, extending to the proposed Pulsar Helium project near Babbitt.
“The mining ban affected their expansion as well,” said Stauber. “When I talked (to other Congressional representatives) about the helium deposit, they were like ‘really.’ Again this is a really big first step in the process and I’m looking forward to us being able to mine these critical minerals that we need and use in our every day life. We use these minerals in our phones, our computers, our televisions, medical technology, defensive weapons. Just like Minnesota helped win World War II, this is going to help us win the critical mineral war and the AI war.”
Earlier, Omerza cited Stauber’s hockey background in hailing his efforts to secure $2 million for the city’s water main project.
“You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take and today we’re celebrating the shot you took on behalf of the city of Ely that went right in the back of the net,” said Omerza. “This wasn’t a one period effort. You stayed in the game for every period and used every minute of overtime and got us the results we needed.”
Omerza added that Stauber “made the right passes to the right people and kept our project moving forward when it could have stalled.”
The mayor also thanked Stauber for crossing party lines and working with U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D) and U.S. Sen. Amy Smith (D) to fund the Ely project.
Omerza lauded Stauber for “skating with our two Senators until they found an opening to put it away for Ely.”
“You showed up for us and dropped the gloves when it counted,” said Omerza.
Stauber said that the work on the Ely project “was the right thing to do at the right time.”
He cited the value of working on behalf of rural communities such as Ely.
“Our smaller communities need that funding,” said Stauber.
Clerk-treasurer Harold Langowski agreed, contending that federal funds were needed to lessen the impact on Ely taxpayers.
“Ely’s median income is half of the state average,” said Langowski. “When you look at raising utility rates or property taxes, you can’t. You can only have the rates so high. Money has to be found in the form of a grant.”
The federal funding will help repair five miles of water main which supplies water from Burntside Lake to Ely.
“The issue is getting five miles to Ely with some of the infrastructure that’s pushing 94 years now,” said Langowski.
Langowski mentioned a water main break that occurred last May on the night of Ely’s high school graduation ceremony and noted the importance of fixing aging infrastructure.
“This is our Blatnik Bridge,” said Langowski, citing one of the bridges that connect Duluth and Superior. “I’ve worked with the city for 25 years now and in my role as clerk-treasurer I see the critical infrastructure and the priority needs for the community.”
